HomeBiographyDiane Plese: Her Life, Career, Family and Divorce Story
Diane Plese

Diane Plese: Her Life, Career, Family and Divorce Story

Diane Plese is best known publicly as the former wife of entrepreneur and television personality Robert Herjavec. Their 24-year marriage ended in separation in 2014 and divorce proceedings that became a major Canadian family-law story.

But there is more to Diane Plese than her connection to Herjavec. She is an optometrist who had established her own professional career, and she and Herjavec raised three children together: Brendan, Skye and Caprice.

Because Diane has largely stayed away from the spotlight, reliable information about her life is more limited than information about her famous former husband. Some details repeated across biography websites, particularly claims about her exact birth details, education, current career and net worth, are difficult to independently verify.

What is much better documented is her marriage to Herjavec, their children, their separation and the subsequent court proceedings.

Who Is Diane Plese?

Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist who became widely known after marrying businessman Robert Herjavec.

She and Herjavec married in 1990 and remained together for 24 years before separating in July 2014. Their divorce was finalized in 2016.

Unlike Herjavec, who became a familiar television personality through programs including Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den, Diane has generally maintained a private life.

Public information about her professional background identifies her as an optometrist. Her connection to Herjavec predates his television fame and much of the financial success that later made him a recognizable business figure.

That distinction is important when looking at her story. Diane was not simply introduced to the public as a celebrity spouse; she had her own profession and family life before Robert became widely known.

Diane Plese’s Career as an Optometrist

Diane Plese trained and worked as an optometrist.

An optometrist is a healthcare professional who examines the eyes, evaluates vision and helps identify or manage various vision-related conditions. Diane’s profession also played a role in how she first met Robert Herjavec.

According to accounts repeated by several publications, Herjavec visited an eye clinic where Diane was working for an eye examination. The two subsequently began a relationship.

Some biographical websites provide specific claims about the school she attended, the date she qualified and the clinic where she worked. However, those details are not consistently supported by primary sources.

For that reason, it is better to describe her professionally as an optometrist without presenting uncertain educational or employment details as established facts.

How Did Diane Plese Meet Robert Herjavec?

The commonly reported story is that Robert Herjavec met Diane Plese when he visited her clinic for an eye examination.

The meeting reportedly happened in 1988, when Herjavec was still building his career and was years away from becoming a television personality. The pair subsequently began dating and married in 1990.

The story is interesting because it places their relationship before the period when Herjavec became famous.

By the time audiences knew him from television, Diane and Robert had already spent many years together and had built a family.

Some later accounts have added details about their first meeting and early relationship, but those details are not equally well documented. The basic timeline is more reliable than the colorful anecdotes sometimes repeated online.

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec Married in 1990

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec married in 1990.

Their marriage lasted approximately 24 years. During that period, Herjavec developed his business career while Diane maintained her own professional background and their family grew.

Herjavec founded BRAK Systems, a Canadian internet security company, before selling it to AT&T Canada in 2000. The sale was an important milestone in his business career and helped establish the financial foundation for his later ventures.

The couple subsequently became parents to three children.

As Herjavec’s career developed, his public profile grew through business television and eventually international exposure. Diane, however, remained much less visible.

Diane Plese Children

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec have three children together: one son, Brendan, and two daughters, Skye and Caprice. The Ontario Court of Appeal’s record in the family’s later legal proceedings identifies Brendan and Skye, while public biographical sources identify all three children.

Skye Herjavec

Skye Herjavec is one of Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s two daughters.

She has largely maintained a private life compared with her father, although her education and professional background have received some public attention.

Several biographical sources report that Skye attended the University of Southern California and later worked in finance. These details are repeated in multiple publications, but information about her current personal life remains limited.

Because Skye is not a public figure to the same degree as her father, it is important not to turn limited public information into speculation about her private life.

Brendan Herjavec

Brendan is Diane and Robert’s son.

Like his siblings, he has generally stayed away from the level of media attention surrounding his father. Public sources have linked him with business-related work and entrepreneurship.

His existence is particularly relevant to the divorce story because the court proceedings involved child-support issues connected to the couple’s children.

Caprice Herjavec

Caprice is Diane and Robert’s other daughter.

Public information about her is more limited than information about Robert, and she has generally maintained a relatively private profile.

Together, Brendan, Skye and Caprice make up the three children from Diane Plese’s marriage to Robert Herjavec.

What Happened Between Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec?

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec separated in July 2014 after approximately 24 years of marriage.

The separation was publicly acknowledged in 2015, when Herjavec was appearing on Dancing with the Stars. In an interview with ABC News, he described the separation as difficult and said that relationships could be hard.

The divorce subsequently became a legal and financial matter that received considerable public attention.

It is important, however, to distinguish what is documented from what has been reported as rumor.

Neither Diane nor Robert publicly established one definitive reason for the end of their marriage. Various media reports discussed other relationships and allegations surrounding the period, but those reports should not be treated as a confirmed explanation for the divorce.

Robert Herjavec Divorce: What Happened Legally?

The divorce proceedings became particularly notable because of the couple’s financial circumstances and the length of their marriage.

The Ontario Court of Appeal later described the matter as arising from a 24-year marriage. The court record states that a trial judge ordered Robert Herjavec to make an equalization payment of $2,689,558 and to pay Diane $125,000 per month in spousal support.

The same decision records an additional child-support obligation of $14,233 per month from May through August in years when the parties’ youngest daughter was attending university.

These figures illustrate why the case attracted attention beyond celebrity media.

It became a significant example in discussions surrounding spousal support in high-income Canadian families.

How Much Did Diane Plese Receive in the Divorce?

Online reports commonly describe Diane Plese as receiving approximately $25 million from the marriage settlement.

However, it is important to explain what that number represents rather than presenting it as a single cash payment without qualification.

The later court proceedings involved multiple financial components, including equalization, spousal support and other property and financial arrangements. The Ontario Court of Appeal record confirms the $2,689,558 equalization payment and the $125,000 monthly spousal-support order from the earlier proceedings.

The Law Society of Ontario’s materials discussing the case also describe the $125,000 monthly spousal-support order and the substantial assets involved in the proceedings.

So the frequently cited $25 million figure should be understood as a reported overall financial outcome rather than simply assuming Diane received $25 million in one transfer.

Why Was the Divorce Settlement So Large?

The size of the financial dispute was connected to the couple’s long marriage, their standard of living and Robert Herjavec’s substantial financial resources.

Canadian family law can consider factors such as the length of a marriage, the financial circumstances of both spouses and the economic consequences of the relationship when determining spousal support.

In Plese v. Herjavec, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge’s approach to spousal support. The appeal court emphasized that the assessment involved an individualized analysis of the parties’ circumstances.

The case therefore provides a useful example of why high-value divorce proceedings cannot always be reduced to a simple calculation of dividing a celebrity’s wealth in half.

Did Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec Have a Prenuptial Agreement?

Some websites claim that Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec did not have a prenuptial agreement.

However, this is one of the details that should be treated carefully because online biographies do not consistently provide primary documentation for the claim.

What is firmly established is that the divorce generated extensive financial litigation and that the court addressed equalization and spousal support.

Rather than relying on unsourced claims about a prenuptial agreement, the court record provides a much stronger basis for understanding the financial dispute.

Did Diane Plese Receive Spousal Support?

Yes.

The trial-level order required Robert Herjavec to pay Diane Plese $125,000 per month in spousal support. The Ontario Court of Appeal later dismissed Herjavec’s appeal of the support order.

The case is notable because of the size of the monthly award and the court’s analysis of the financial circumstances of a high-income family.

The legal proceedings continued after the initial divorce, with later decisions addressing aspects of the financial arrangements.

What Is Diane Plese’s Net Worth?

There is no reliably confirmed public figure for Diane Plese’s current net worth.

Many celebrity-biography websites estimate her wealth at around $100 million, but these figures are generally not accompanied by audited financial statements or a direct disclosure from Diane.

That makes such estimates speculative.

The court records do establish that Diane received substantial financial support and an equalization payment as part of the family-law proceedings.

But that does not tell us exactly how much money she currently has.

A responsible biography should therefore avoid presenting an online net-worth estimate as fact.

Where Is Diane Plese Today?

Diane Plese has remained largely out of the public spotlight since her divorce from Robert Herjavec.

Unlike her former husband, she does not appear to have pursued a major television career or built a prominent public brand around her personal life.

This makes current information about her difficult to verify.

Some websites claim that she lives in Toronto and maintains a quiet life, but there is limited recent primary-source information confirming the details of her current residence, professional activities or daily life.

The safest conclusion is that Diane has continued to maintain a private life after the divorce.

What Is Diane Plese Doing Now?

There is no substantial body of recent public reporting documenting Diane Plese’s current professional or personal activities.

Her public identity remains closely associated with her former marriage, her career as an optometrist and the family’s highly publicized divorce proceedings.

That lack of information should not be interpreted as evidence that she has no professional or personal activities. It simply reflects her decision to remain private.

This is also why readers should be cautious with websites that claim to know precisely what she does every day or provide detailed personal information without citing reliable sources.

Is Diane Plese on Social Media?

There is no widely verified public social-media presence that provides a reliable window into Diane Plese’s current life.

Accounts using a similar name may exist, but a social-media profile should not automatically be assumed to belong to her without verification.

Given her long-standing preference for privacy, the absence of an active public profile is unsurprising.

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s Relationship After Divorce

The end of the marriage was clearly difficult for Robert Herjavec.

In his 2015 ABC News interview, he discussed the emotional impact of the separation and described the period as one of significant difficulty.

The divorce also became complicated by family relationships.

Public reports have discussed periods in which Herjavec’s relationship with his children was strained. Because these are personal family matters, however, it is better to rely on statements from the family and court records rather than speculate about their private relationships.

Over time, Herjavec rebuilt his public life and married Kym Johnson in 2016.

Diane has remained considerably more private.

What Happened to Robert Herjavec After the Divorce?

Following his separation from Diane, Robert Herjavec continued his career in business and television.

He became especially well known as an investor on Shark Tank and as a television personality.

He also began a relationship with Australian dancer Kym Johnson, whom he met while appearing on Dancing with the Stars. The couple married in 2016.

They later became parents to twins, Hudson and Haven.

This means that Diane’s three children with Herjavec eventually became part of a larger blended family.

Diane Plese and Kym Johnson

Kym Johnson is Robert Herjavec’s current wife.

Her relationship with Herjavec began after his separation from Diane and became public during his appearance on Dancing with the Stars. They married in 2016.

It is worth keeping the timeline clear:

  • Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec married in 1990.
  • They separated in July 2014.
  • Their divorce proceedings became public in 2015.
  • The divorce was finalized in 2016.
  • Robert and Kym Johnson married in 2016.

This timeline helps avoid the confusion sometimes created by celebrity biographies that compress several years of events into one paragraph.

Why Is Diane Plese Still Famous?

Diane Plese remains a subject of interest largely because of her connection to Robert Herjavec.

Her former husband became a highly recognizable business personality, and the couple’s long marriage meant that Diane was part of his life before his television fame.

The divorce also attracted attention because of the size of the financial orders and the legal questions surrounding support after a long, high-income marriage.

People also continue to search for information about Diane because she chose a very different path from Robert.

While he remained highly visible, she largely disappeared from public life.

That contrast naturally creates curiosity.

Diane Plese’s Life Beyond Her Famous Marriage

It is easy to reduce Diane Plese’s story to “Robert Herjavec’s ex-wife,” but that description overlooks the career and family life she had before and during the marriage.

She trained as an optometrist and worked in healthcare. She married Robert when he was still building his career and raised three children with him.

Her story also illustrates how the spouse of a highly successful entrepreneur can have a significant role in a family’s development without becoming a public personality.

At the same time, there is not enough reliable public information to assign her a detailed biography covering every year of her life.

That gap is worth acknowledging rather than filling with unsupported claims.

Frequently Asked Questions About Diane Plese

Who is Diane Plese?

Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist best known publicly as Robert Herjavec’s former wife. The couple married in 1990, separated in 2014 and later divorced.

Is Diane Plese a doctor?

Diane Plese is an optometrist. Some sources refer to her as “Dr. Diane Plese” because optometrists may hold the professional title of doctor.

Who was Diane Plese married to?

Diane Plese was married to businessman and television personality Robert Herjavec. They married in 1990 and were together for about 24 years before separating.

When did Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec divorce?

Diane and Robert separated in July 2014. Their divorce proceedings became public in 2015, and the divorce was finalized in 2016.

How many children does Diane Plese have?

Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec have three children together: Brendan, Skye and Caprice.

Who is Skye Herjavec?

Skye Herjavec is one of Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s two daughters. She has generally maintained a private life, although some information about her education and professional background has been reported publicly.

What happened to Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec?

The couple separated after 24 years of marriage. Their subsequent divorce involved extensive financial proceedings, including an equalization payment and substantial spousal-support obligations.

How much did Diane Plese receive from the divorce?

Reports commonly cite an overall amount of approximately $25 million, but the financial outcome involved multiple components. Court records specifically document a $2,689,558 equalization payment and a $125,000 monthly spousal-support order.

Why did Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec divorce?

Neither former spouse has publicly established one definitive reason for the divorce. Various media reports have discussed other relationships and circumstances, but those reports should not be treated as a confirmed explanation for why the marriage ended.

Is Diane Plese married now?

There is no reliable recent public information establishing that Diane Plese has remarried. She has kept her post-divorce personal life private.

What is Diane Plese’s net worth?

No exact current net worth has been publicly verified. Online estimates often claim that she is worth around $100 million, but those figures are speculative rather than officially confirmed.

Where does Diane Plese live now?

Public information about Diane’s current residence is limited. Some biographies say she lives in Canada, but there is insufficient recent primary-source information to confidently provide a precise current location.

Who is Robert Herjavec married to now?

Robert Herjavec is married to Kym Johnson. They met while participating in Dancing with the Stars and married in 2016.

Final Thoughts

Diane Plese’s story is closely connected to Robert Herjavec, but it is not defined entirely by him.

She had a career as an optometrist, married Herjavec in 1990 and raised three children with him during the years when he was building the business career that eventually made him famous.

Their separation in 2014 and subsequent divorce became one of the more closely watched Canadian celebrity family-law cases because of the family’s wealth and the size of the resulting financial orders. The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision provides the strongest documentation for the legal side of the story, including the equalization payment and spousal-support order.

Today, Diane remains a relatively private person.

That privacy means there are limits to what can responsibly be said about her current life. Claims about her exact net worth, residence, daily activities or personal relationships often come from unsourced biography sites rather than Diane herself.

For that reason, the most reliable picture of Diane Plese is the one supported by the available evidence: an optometrist, mother of three, former wife of Robert Herjavec and a central figure in a significant Canadian divorce case who has largely chosen to live outside the public eye.

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